Phil Sorgen. (Tola Capital Photo)

Phil Sorgen, a former Microsoft corporate vice president who was most recently chief revenue officer at RingCentral, is joining Seattle-area investment firm Tola Capital as a venture partner.

Sorgen spent 24 years at Microsoft. As corporate vice president, he led Microsoft’s U.S. Enterprise Commercial Group, and held various other leadership positions at the tech giant, including president of Microsoft Canada.

The sales and marketing vet joined business communications giant RingCentral in May 2020 and was responsible for all global sales.

Sorgen was already connected to Tola as member of its Enterprise Leadership Council and a director at its portfolio company Glia.

Founded in 2010, Tola is led by former Microsoft managers Sheila Gulati and Stacey Giard. It focuses on enterprise software companies and manages $440 million in assets. The firm raised $295 million for its first fund in 2016 and is currently investing out of its second fund.

Sorgen told GeekWire he joined Tola because of its “outstanding” leadership and the firm’s approach to investing. Sorgen pointed to four trends he’s particularly excited about:

  • “Data is the new currency”
  • Reinventing how people work and collaborate
  • Speed of execution with no-code or low-code solutions
  • Leveraging machine learning and AI to enhance security

“I look for organizations that have a clear vision, embrace both a growth mindset and a learning culture, have differentiated capabilities in how they are approaching a solution and talented individuals that can deliver success,” Sorgen said.

Tola’s portfolio includes companies such as Clipchamp, which was just acquired by Microsoft, and Convercent, which was acquired by OneTrust earlier this year. The firm invests in companies across North America, Europe, and Australia.

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